Thursday 01-21-2010 Preparation day.

22:10

Alright, touring life has started! Just said goodbye to my girl and got on the train to Assen, where Mats will pick me up in his trusy-but-beaten-up van. My equipment is already on board and it'll be reunited with our other stuff in Nijmegen, at Rutger's place. Rutger will be our substiutute-keyplayer-extraordinaire again for this tour. Mats will travel there after he's dropped me off at Jan's place. Short night's sleep and rendez-vous with coach and our travel compagnons of The Gathering at 8AM tomorrow morning. Not a whole lot of sleep lies ahead, best enjoy the travelling for a bit.
No first class train seat for me, riding isle, but judging from the pics and my experience with Red Cars, it should be a pretty comfortable three+ weeks ahead! Alright, just about time to exit the train and complete the first tiny leg of the tour. Groningen-Assen went by in a flash (not very surprising to anyone vaguely familiar with Holland's topography :)) Signing off!

Friday 01-22-2010, Kulturfabrik, Krefeld.

11:30

Proper touring! Lounge room in the back of our luxury commodity with Mats and Marjan, both in relaxing mode, reclining on leather sofas around. Typing away. Enter Rutger. Getting cozy and comfortable, Bertolf providing background soundscapes. There´s worse places to be and things to do. Yup. Entering Germany, en route to Krefeld.
01:25

In the bus after the Krefeld show. Downstairs lounge, with Silje, Linda (lights), Rutger, Marjan, Mats and Jan. An hour to go before we move on to Erfurt, next on the agenda. All packed. Sort of attempted to 'engineer' my bunk. Quite wide, so if I'm correct it should be possible to sleep in my bunk wifh two bags on my right side, with the center walkway to my left (never sleep with your head towards the front of the bus, in case of collision, risking a broken neck in the process.) Cozy and feels like coming home, though I haven't seen one of these bunks for quite some time.

The tour got off to a good start, with operation running as smooth as they could. Rusty show with a glitch here and there for both bands, but a very appreciative, though not altogether active audience made up for the 'failures' on our part. We felt very welcome in the venue. Good catering, stage hands in numbers and plenty of time to tinker with all our fiddly bits and loose ends. Some of these were not immediately tied yet though. I spent soundcheck trying to figure out why my newly acquired TC Electronic G System failed to gel with my Koch amp, resulting in not a sound coming out of the combination of the two. Eventually, after rewiring, I got sound, but wasn't at ease hitting the stage. Kind of rusty show, taking some time to get used to a 'listening' but highly enthousiastic audience, I guess. Halfway through Altitude, the final song, my sound died on me, probably (hopefully) an empty wireless transponder battery. Running a regular cable didn't fix things somehow, so I got to sing and play air-guitar-with-guitar :) Great responses, supported by quite high merch sales brougt a smile back on my face. I must say, we've seen far worse first shows!
02:10

On our way. Downstairs lounge. Our folk has all but disappeared to the upstairs sleeping quarters. Only Jan and I remain among the Gathering die hards (most of them have gone to sleep as well.) Frank has put Tullamore Dew whiskey on the menu!
02:45
I'm left with Wouter (sound), Rene and Frank. Bit of whiskey was quite welcome, but hit like a small ton of bricks.

Saturday 01-23-2010, HsG, Erfurt.

11:00

Had quite a good sleep. Spaceous bunk, comfortable blanket and my own pillow, which helps. Stopped a couple of times for extended periods (probably for the driver to rest and not to arrive in Erfurt too early.) Most of the crew is awake, Wouter, Linda and Sjoerd (Tour manager), plus Hugo of TG. I'm the first of my folks to make it downstairs. Tuna sandwiches in the morning, nice way of waking up. Watched the beautiful landscape rush past. Well, rush is a bit of an exaggeration. We're not moving particularly fast , with a trailer full of equipment to drag along with us up sizeable hills and maybe even proper mountains by now. We're about half an hour's drive from our destination. Time for a relaxing wake up stare out the window.

It seems yesterday, about 230 people, including guests, showed up. We sold about 350 Euros worth of merchandise, including nearly 20 of the 200 Altitude CD's we have with us, so it looks like we'll be doing alright in that department, especially once we get up to steam, get the rust out of our system and start to really convince our audiences. Can't wait! 7 km to Erfurt. One disadvantage of sleeping in a nightliner is the rather dry air, it affects throat and nose, so it'll be quite welcome to catch a breath of fresh air once we arrive at our destination in a little bit!
14:30
Got in, loaded in, had breakfast, nice and relaxed. Now we'll turn it up a notch, getting things ready for soundcheck.

Sunday 01-24-2010, Colombia Club, Berlin.

11:15
No time to write down anything yesterday. Hectic day. All went well with soundcheck, but it was already quite clear Hugo wasn't feeling his best. Got paler and paler and apparantly had been throwing up most of the day. Did his soundcheck quite capably and ours went smoothly as well. Shortly afterward though, he was taken to the hospital with severe stomach flu, where he was put on a saline fluid drip and got a couple of hefty injections to stop the vomiting. Things looking dire.
Silje approached us to maybe fill in some of the bass gaps in case Hugo would not be able to do the show. Bit too short notice to pick up the songs, though it was agreed I would have a go at 'Even the Spirits..' if things were to come to that. Hugo started out and played the first 6 songs rather well, but then had to withdraw from the stage, too exhausted to continue. In the end they went on without him , playing almost all the songs from their regular set in front of a very enthousiastic and understanding audience. Hugo went straight to sleep and has been ever since. Hopefully he'll be back in some kind of shape today.
Our show went rather well, much better than the Krefeld show. Fluent, groovy, nice vibe, very warm audience. Once again slight hick-ups in my set-up, but I'm rather confident that I've solved the problem now (I hope..)
At the Colombia Club in Berlin now, -10C outside, nice and warm inside the bus. Right across the road is the famous Tempelhof airport, which closed down recently. Looking rather sinister in the snow, abandoned like this. We'll have to wait for doors of the club to open. Can't wait for the food, always great here!
23:30
Another day filled to the brim with equipment breakdown. Spent an hour tinkering with my stuff after soundcheck. All down to cabling in the end, my idiot proof labeling did't turn out exactly idiot proof because this idiot labeled it wrong. :) The show on the other hand went quite well, finally up and running smoothly gives a confidence boost, though I was rather adrenaline filled before show time. Mats' and Jeroen's show were far from perfect to their own standards and Jan had trouble warming up the entire show. Not surprising, since the venue was near freezing temperatures all the way through the day. Marjan and Rutger were in their element, Marjan growing stronger and stronger as a front woman, so all in all, the shows was a close second to Erfurt. Painful incident for me, hoisting my guitar rack off the stage, I dropped one of my Parkers to the concrete floor, damaging another in the process, as it turned out later. Spent some time carefully picking up paint chips and placing them in a plastic bag, all with CSI-like precision. I love my guitars and felt truly heartbroken for a couple of hours (still do, but hey, life goes on, and I don't have to look at the damages for a whole day, thank god.)
Drinking all this away with some nice Berliner beers now, confident the day-after effects will be limited due to the German quality Reinheidsgebot beers (and must say, feelin' fine!)

Monday 01-25-2010, Day off in Karlsruhe.

12:30

Last night, the day off ahead inspired most of us to make it sort of an all-nighter and tour bonding was on an all time high til about 5:30, when the last remaining few went upstairs. Two Autumn, one TG, one crew, good mixture, representative of one awesome tour!
Travelling to Karlsruhe now. 170 k to go on snow-filled roads. Got up at 10:30, found Sjoerd and Wouter already awake downstairs. Bus was stuck in traffic. Took an hour's break at a gas station, had a sandwich and cake, joined there by Silje and Jan. Now back on the bus, clear roads. Jeroen just walked in, Hans is also up and running, the rest still asleep. No reason to be up, day off today.

14:25
Last six kilometers, traffic jam. Driver Stefan has crossed the limit of the amount of hours he is allowed to drive, but he can hardly stop now, we're too close to the city. Alice in Chains delivers the music. Jeroen, Jan and Rutger are reading, Marjan is listening to Kashmir on iPod, Jeroen is editing Autumn video footage of the last few shows, Mats is sleeping off his booze effects (whiskey neutralizes good Reinheitsgebot qualities :)) most of The Gathering are chatting at the tables behind me. In relaxed spirits, curious too see Karlsruhe!

Tuesday 01-26-2010 Substage, Karlsruhe.

Karlsruhe treated us kindly. The bus parked right outside the venue, located underneath a busy intersection. Inside, you could hear the trams rumbling by over your head. It was open to us for a couple of hours to go in for coffee and a shower, after which we were left to our own devices. Just a short walk from the shopping centers, we hit the stores at about 3 PM. Walked around, bought some whiskey, vodka and bionade (that taste!) then found a nice place for some food and drinks. Zwiebel, not a particularly appealing name when not a fan of onions, but the food was actually pretty good and we were treated to the likes of Queens Of The Stone Age while consuming it. Came back to find some of TG watching The Story Of Anvil, a hilariously funny yet deeply moving rockumentary, decided to join in. Halfway through, news arrived that Silje had fallen very ill. Sjoerd booked her a hotel room, where she continued to throw up for most of the night. Grave concerns for the Karlsruhe show..
After back to back Anvil and Sin City, Jeroen and I engaged in our touring ritual: Loud Entombed Clandestine, air drumming-guitaring and sort-of-screaming our way through it. At very low volume though, since it was rather late and the bus wasn't running. We'll have a louder re-run sooner or later!
We walked back into town today, round 11:30, to search for some guitar strings and a microphone for Marjan. Found one store, but it was the worst one I've ever come across. Ignorant personell, no electric guitars, not one, a handful of strings in the wrong gauges and Marjan ended up paying 10 Euros more for the microphone than the price card said. Safe to say, we won't be coming back. Hit a record store next door with a lot more to offer. Bought some stuff I can't find (cheap) in Holland and went back to the venue a happy man.
Marjan took over for The Gathering's line/soundcheck, but Silje was feeling markedly better by then. We hit the stage after a very good meal and were greeted a nice and cozy crowd, who unfortunately were being very cozy quite a way from the stage. This, combined with lights at eye level, made it hard to see who we were playing for and subsequently led to a rather strange, detached show, like we were not playing live. Rutger and I experienced this most of all, the rest were quite satisfied with the show. After finishing the show, we got the longest applause so far on the tour and sold quite a few CD's, so I guess the show was convincing enough.
The Gathering went on to play a very moving set, with Silje starting out carefully and still a bit feeble but gradually growing in strength, encouraged by an appreciative audience. They went on to play almost the entire set, closing off with a magnificent version of Travel. Truly stellar performance!
Quite a long afterparty followed, after wich bus call forced us to pack our bags and head for Nurnburg. We'll have a stretch of back to back shows from now on, no travel days to cushion the blow of a raging stomach flu. So let's hope the rest of us get spared!

01-27-2010 Hirsch, Nurnburg (D)

Cold, very cold. This place has got a biergarten that reminds me of Backstage Munchen. But no use for beer outside in these condition unless you like beer popsicles. Nice and warm inside though, luckily. Rutger and I walk in early afternoon, German bread with sausages and eggs among others waiting for us. An unrealistically big deer head hangs over the bar. On the other end of the venue, a very small backstage offers a fridge filled with AfriCola and some brand of beer I can't remember. Nice beer, tough. Good stage, very good lights (Linda walks around with a big smile on her face), nicely decorated venue. Everyone digs into either the food or wireless internet. The show went quite alright, the tightest so far. There's clearly an upward trend, we're growing ever tighter show by show. This translates into enthusiastic reactions from the crowd during and after the show and good merch sales. It was fun to talk to so many nice people, nice to hear that our sound is appreciated by The Gathering audiences in Germany at least! Let's see what the rest of Europ brings!

01-28-2010 Abaton, Prague (CZ)

The first of a sequence of shows in Eastern Europe. Really looking forward to these shows, such a different atmosphere compared to for example Holland or Germany. The venue is located in a dead end street. Stefan can't turn with the trailer attached to the bus, so we're quick to unload the trailer in the middle of the road, with cars waiting suprisingly patiently. No horns honking like you'd expect in above mentioned countries. Abaton is a rather strange venue. Very wide, but not very deep. Unfortunately there is a problem with the heating and the place is quite cold. A small electric heater tries its best to bring the dressing room up to temperature, but it's not nearly sufficient. Many of us spend a lot of time in the bus, which may have prevented disaster. At some point, Jerome notices the smell of burning plastic and a bit of smoke finds its way to the upstairs lounge. After a long frantic search, Stefan discovers that the landline (supplying the bus with electricity from the venue) has overheated, probably due to faulty wiring and too powerful a fuse. It has melted the socket and is about to catch fire. Had it been more cozy and comfortable in the venue, chances are the bus could have gone up in flames..

There's an extra support act tonight, Dying Passion. They take to the stage and deliver quite a nice mixture of heavy styles, with a hint of Lacuna Coil, but with different, slightly eccentric vocals. From the first notes of our intro, the Prague crowd is on our side. Such a great audience, tremendous atmosphere. It almost feels like we're headlining! Of course, The Gathering manage to better that, and deservedly so, but for us, this is without a doubt the highlight of the tour so far. Develop a mild tooth ache during the day. Pizzas after the TG show prove too much and a sizeable chunk of tooth breaks off in the upper back corner of my mouth. Doesn´t hurt too bad at the moment, but I fear this may be the calm before the storm. Sjoert sais to give him word once the pains start, so we can fix a dentist once we arrive at a venue. I´m not looking forward to a trip to some dentist in a foreign coutry, but I know the pain will force me if it kicks in. For now, I´m stuck chewing with only one side of my mouth.

Watch The Pledge with Jan and Marjan in the upstairs lounge. The smell of burnt plastic still lingers up here. We notice it's a tough journey. It turns out a shortcut to the freeway is too snow-filled to drive along and the bus needs to back up and turn, which takes about an hour of precious travel time. A long journey ahead, since the snow is picking up.

01-29-2010 Loch Ness, Krakow (PL)

Due to snow related traffic accidents, we arrive at the venue a bit late, and once again find ourselves having to unload the trailer in a busy street. Some rather muscular and grumpy looking local crew help out tremendously by carrying quite a lot of heavy equipment at once. Cool, slightly saloon-like atmosphere in the venue. Take a ghastly cold shower, but have to endure, really need to wash my hair.

Busted up my phone, must have sat on it or something. There's a large crack in the screen and half of it has gone black and getting progressively worse. Maybe time for a cheap Slovakian iPhone tomorrow?

On a brighter note, my tooth seems to be holding out, as long as I chew on the left side of my mouth, there isn't any pain. Comfortably numb so to speak. Speaking of which: driving to Bratislava, I join Hugo in the back lounge to enjoy Pink Floyd's Animals at loud volume, the way it should be enjoyed. Submerged in Pink Floyd. Go to bed after this, good night's sleep while others for a change keep up the partying downstairs.

01-30-2010 Randal Bratislava (SK)

Quite the mess today. Arrive at the venue at 1 only to find out no one is there. After phoning around for a while, Sjoert manages to get a hold of the promoter and finds out the club won't be open until 3. We can't stay where we are, in te middle of the street, so move to a parking lot some 800 meters up the road, where we'll have to stay, because Stefan has reached his driving limit. This means waiting for two hours and mentally preparing for the ordeal of having to drag all our equipment through the snow for almost a kilometer to the venue.

On top of this some problems with the bus arise. The lights for the trailer are shot and the coded lock to the back door malfunctions.
Once we get in, we find a good meal waiting for us. That's the only plus. For one, the stage is very small. To think Dying Passion were to open for us again today, they wouldn't have fit. Luckily Sjoert called them to cancel their performance because with the club opening doors too late, the time schedule would be murder with three bands.
We set up backline in record time, but are then forced to wait for ages before local technical crew (1 person)places microphones. Another issue arises: There's very limited monitor groups, way too limited. This means only Marjan and Jan have monitors. We finish soundcheck with people already waiting outside in the cold to get in, have a lightning quick dinner and hit the stage practically chewing away the last bite, so can't imagine a third band would have fit the the bill.

The audience however, more than makes up for the poor circumstances. The small venue packed with enthousiastic Slovaks brings a smile to our faces. The fact that Mats has to push his way across the stage to reach my microphone, because there aren't enough channels for one of his own, adds a bit of slapstick which we don't seem to mind anymore tonight. For The Gathering, the show holds equally surprising audience reactions and in the end, everyone is quite satisfied playing Bratislava.
Packing the trailer after the show, mechanics are still fixing things and go home with a sizeable amount of the day's profits. The bill, I'm sure, will go to Red Cars. We leave Bratislava with only the left side lights of the trailer burning and the coded lock still not functioning.

01-31-2010 Diesel, Budapest (HU)

Wake up to lots of snow. The venue is situated in a park, which looks like scene from a fairytale, ancient trees covered in a thick layer of snow. The red bus really sticks out in the white scenery, almost surreal.

We're welcomed by a very friendly catering lady and crew. I remember having played here before, when it was called E Klub, in a very distant past. Man, have things changed since then! A unique venue, looks straight from a film set of a Star Trek movie. Technically top motch, very spaceous backstage bar, full of leather sofas and even a lounge bed. Quite the change from Bratislava! That venue was about as big as this backstage area.

Marjolein arrives finally. She spent most of yesterday trying to catch any flight to Budapest. Weather dealt a nasty blow to air traffic and she spent 8 AM to 2 AM on several airports before she finally SMSt that she was on board a plane. She had a good morning's sleep in a hotel and is now at the Diesel club, being welcomed by her band mates. At the same time, it's a sad goodbye to Hugo, who was a great companion during the first leg of this tour. Inspiring musician and allround great guy! He will be missed!
Not too many people have made it to the venue by the time we start the intro to Synchro Minds, but numbers increase rapidly and the atmosphere gets better by the song. Still, the intense snowfall certainly kept some people at home today. Disappointing in a way, Budapest could have been the blast of the tour. The great venue, hospitality, food and crowd response certainly made up for it though!
February coming up! We head on south from here on in. Let's see what it brings us!

Monday 02-01-2010 Mochvara, Zagreb (CR)

Who'd have thought we'd ever get to play Croatia! Been to many a place in my GD days, but Croatia was pretty much not on that list, and I didn't expect it to ever make that list. But today, as we park the bus in slightly snowy, cold but lovely sunny Zagreb, right on the banks of the river Sava, I get to breathe fresh Croatian air!

And I need a breath of fresh air to wake up, was a long party in the bus this night. Quite a few were still up and about ready to go to sleep when we drove up to the notorious Croatian border around 6:30 in the morning. Thing with this border is, that if you're lucky, you drive straight through, but if you're not, it may take the better part of a day to get through. One golden rule: be ready in the downstairs lounge, so they can check if faces and passports match. If you leave them waiting, they’ll often do the same to you… an hour or longer. So we wait downstairs for the official to enter the bus. Takes about 45 minutes, checking about a minute more, and we can finally go to sleep. The bus remains at the border for another hour or so - paperwork - before we are allowed to enter Croatia. All in all, however strange this may sound, quite a smooth crossing. They could, after all, have asked us to empty the whole trailer and check every serial number of our equipment and count every piece of merchandise.

Sleep till about twelve, then step outside, breathe in and get straight to loading out the trailer. Good breakfast afterward in a very green backstage area. Nice place, this, has apparently improved massively since the last time The Gathering were here. Very friendly bearded promoter Bobo shows us around and sees to our every need. Jan and I stretch our legs and go for a walk in the city center. Beautiful old buildings in mint condition, always a pleasure to experience a new city!

Tuesday 02-02-2010 Alcatraz, Milan (IT)

Picking up Hans, our second driver for the coming long travel days, from Milano airport. Driving back into Milan. We park in front of the club with some difficulty, parked cars making Stefan's life difficult. Big posters by the entrance of the club make us suspect this is a big club: Joss Stone is to perform here next week.

Just to the right of the entrance, a large display of illegal Gathering shirts, sold right off the streets. Nothing we can do about it.. On top of this, our shirts are sold for us tonight by personnel of the venue. A luxury, it would seem, but it is non-negotiable and costs 25 % of total sales in commission. We decide to agree with the terms. After all, this is a promotional tour for us, and people buying our CD's and getting to know us is more important than making a profit.

We meet up with some Italian fans and photographers, have a photo session near Milan railway station in nice and sunny conditions. I decide to wear a short sleeve t shirt. Slightly optimistic, since the session lasted half an hour and it's not as warm as I expected. But hey, we came from very different conditions and it's wonderful to be able to walk the streets with a few layers of clothes stripped away. Hopefully a taster of things to come!

Wonderful food tonight, varied and especially the desert is to die for. Mats and Hans among others prey for seconds, like a couple of vultures. The cook gets a big round of applause from two grateful bands.

Stepping on to the large stage, we are welcomed by two rows of dedicated Autumn fans, such a great sight to see! We see some familiar faces of people we've met at other shows or through MySpace, and get to meet many more after the show. Milano treats both bands exceptionally kindly, and when we load in the bus and head for Spain, we're seen off by quite a few fans who wait till the bus drives away before they head for home. Since we have a day off tomorrow, a large part of the tour company indulges in a long after party. I take on DJ duties till about 7:30 after which I head for my bunk, followed shortly afterward by the last few remaining.

Wednesday 02-03-2010 Day off, Aigues Mortes (F)

Day off in the French Riviera, in the outskirts of an old fortified town called Aigues Mortes, near Montpellier. Woke up around two. By that time, most of us had hit town. Head out with Mats, Linda, Rutger and Marjan, following the directions Sjoert has left us. We arrive at a beautiful old village, with the inner town enclosed by well preserved city walls and towers. Not what we expected, beautiful place to spend our time, and in complete relaxing mode. Shopped for booze, a large box of chocolates for Sjoert's birthday and some clothes in a very cool little store in the center of town called Le Pirate. Drank some tea with Hans, Sjoert & Wouter, who we ran into. Such friendly people in this town! I guess they're glad some foreigners visit town this winter. Tourist season is quite a while away yet and many shops are closed till then. We get nice discounts at Le Pirate and free delicious shrimps and bread with our coffee at a seafood restaurant, even though we're quite clear that we've made reservations to eat elsewhere tonight. We head on to the main square for dinner with the whole tour party. The food in this restaurant wasn't all that great, but atmosphere definitely was. We intensely enjoy celebrating Sjoert's birthday and the halfway mark of a wonderful tour.

Thursday 02-04-2010 Salamandra 1, Barcelona (ES)

We drop our excellent second driver Hans at Barcelona airport. It was a pleasure to be driven through Italy, France and Spain by him. It's such a blessing to have good drivers with you during a tour! I remember tours where everyone was anxiously waiting for the next near-accident. Believe me, you don't get a lot of sleep then! Stefan is exceptionally steady in this sense, maintaining a constant, relaxed speed and no heavy breaking so far, but Hans comes in a close second!

The club opens at two, we spend some time waiting for it to open. Some go across the street for something to eat. The first rainy day of the tour, with about 9 degrees outside. Strange to see palm trees in the streets, while it's raining at a temperature not all that different from your average Dutch day.

Good merchandise sales already before our show starts. The show is a blur for Mats and Jerome, the latter having to fight his mind from wandering off all the time. No troubles for me, I'm quite awake and like the atmosphere, with a lot of people in front of the stage singing along to the lyrics. Such a nice feeling that people know us here! After the show, we find our dressing room has been mysteriously altered: The couch has moved to the other side of the room, where the table used to be and vice versa. The endgame has begun: tour pranks from now on in, I'm sure. TG play to a rather noisy crowd, singing along to lyrics and melodies at great volume, and leave the stage with a smile.

Back in the bus on the way to Alicante, I spend a short time in the lounge upstairs with Rutger, Marjan, Silje and Linda. Hit the bunk early, at the same time as Mats. He retreats to a nice movie, I have a tour report to write for Mindview magazine.

Friday 02-05-2010 Nave 8, Alicante (ES)

Not exactly a good night's sleep. You can feel the temperature outside is rising. Woken up by Mats around 2, with a slight headache due to the sweltering heat in the sleeping area . It's some 20 degrees outside and the sun is shining brightly. Hans, Frank, Mats, Marjan, Jerome and I hit town. Spirits are high with the sun on our faces. Have coffee in a bar, then go to a supermarket to buy a very late breakfast and a stash of whiskey for tonight. Cervezas join us on some benches in the sun, where we spend a couple of hours just enjoying the sunshine and each other's company. Rutger and Linda run into us and stick around as well.

Back at the club, we hear that Gema and Rene hit the beach today, in hindsight surely the place to be. There's some trouble with the PA in the venue, so we sit outside in the sun for a while longer, since there's not much to do inside. I find a wireless network and chat with my girl while standing in bright sunshine in t shirt. She's sitting under a fleece blanket at home, with nasty temperatures and still a lot of snow falling outside. Everyone is fed up with this winter. Can't say I mind being here!

Finally, our sound check gets underway and we're once again faced with a shortage of channels and monitors like in Bratislava. Mats and I share a microphone again for this show. But before it gets underway, we're on standby for some time, because there seem to be some financial issues. We spend about half an hour waiting with guitar in hand before we get the green light to hit the stage. Good fun playing Alicante. We've never played Spain before, knew we had a following here, but never thought we would be feeling so welcome . Looking forward to the next two shows!

Saturday 02-06-2010 El Tren, Granada (ES)

Wake up early, round 11 (that's early in a touring rhythm) and sit down in the downstairs lounge to write a bit of the Mindview tour report. Some have already gone into town. Write a bit until the rest come down from their bunks. Head into the suburbs of Granada, welcomed by the majestic sight of a snow-capped mountain exiting the bus. The party: Hans, Rene, Mats, Marjan, Silje, Rutger, Jerome, Marjolein and Linda. Don't find much out here, rather far from center of town. We end up sitting outside a cafe, drinking quite good coffee and cervezas. Wouter and Sjoerd get out of the bus right next to the cafe , have been to the old town and fort. A bit later Jan and Gema also arrived back. Mental note: catch the bus in the next city we go to, don't miss out!

El Tren doesn't look much from the outside, but inside it's actually quite decent! PA is in good working order, catering is fine, capable sound engineers see to a smooth sound check and good sound on stage. Sit down in the sun outside and observe interactions between various people on the tour. Without an exception everyone gets along wonderfully!

What a killer crowd! From the very first second, we're cheered on, people bang and sing along to all the songs and we feel like we're carried on waves of energy! TG go through similar experiences. Marjolein's parents have come to see their daughter play here and are witness to a great show.

Speaking to people after the show, you find out how much they like to see bands here. Not too many bands make it out to Granada. It's a very poor region, struck hard by the economic recession and looking at the rather pricy tickets, 25 Euros for one ticket, it's quite impressive to see how many people still turned up tonight, and in such good spirits! We'll remember this one for quite some time!

Sunday 02-07-2010 Heineken, Madrid (ES)

Good turnout expected tonight, Madrid being a massive student city. We have to load out in the streets and carry the equipment quite a way to arrive at Sala Heineken. The venue has arranged for a number of stage hands, luckily. Stefan takes a quick shower while we're hoisting equipment and then leaves for an underground bus park elsewhere in the city, There's a lot of police in the streets and cars at the intersections around the venue are checked , some hi priority Ministry of Foreign Affairs thing, it seems.

Nice and spacious venue, with large upstairs backstage bar, for this occasion. You can look down onto the stage from here. Frank seizes the opportunity to moon us from upstairs during our sound check. Unfortunately (perhaps make that fortunately :)) none of us notice him.

Paella, omelets and croquettes make for a nice meal tonight. Still, this is not my day, was up till very late and it makes me a bit melancholic today, which can lead to a strange lonely feeling, even when surrounded by 15 cool people. I sense that I'll have to take it easier for the remainder of the tour. Went for a walk with Marjan and Mats, to the park across from the venue, with an impressive statue of Don Quichotte and Sancho Panza. Big shopping streets leading to a lively square with lots of entertainment, such as a mariachi band and living statues and such. I can cross Madrid off my list: been there, done that (well, only such a small part of it.. would love to come back to this wonderful city!)

About 300 people have made their way inside by the time we start playing. Such an overwhelming response once again, Spain has treated us so kindly, we're not worthy! Wonderful to head on back into the audience after the show and have a chat with people and enjoy a very moving The Gathering show with them! It brightens my mood significantly. But it's an early night for me, while the majority settles in the downstairs lounge to celebrate a memorable day and the beginning of a well deserved day off.

Monday 02-08-2010 Day off, Mataro (ES)

Mataro, coastal town near Barcelona. Pouring rain with a hint of sea fragrance. We're parked on the edge of a building plant, with train tracks separating us from the Mediterranean Sea. Not all that romantic, but hey, it's the seaside anyway. Hit town with Sjoerd, Frank, Hans, Wouter, Mats, Jerome and Jan. The rain doesn't allow for lots of wandering through town, so we end up at the first restaurant we come across, the Mundial. Nicely crowded with people enjoying their meals this siesta. Think of having a sandwich, but they really only serve heavier food. End up ordering a truly delicious salmon pizza. It's 3 PM, but tour wise, this is breakfast, and a firm one at that! We're joined by the girls, who correctly figure this must be the place to find us. The company stays for couple of hours, then split up, some hitting town, some going back to the bus. The weather has turned truly atrocious, so most decide to head back to Mundial instead of searching for other dinner alternatives. I go for Goose fish, grilled. Strange fish, served rare, almost like sushi, very tasty. Googled it just now, and it's one of those hideous looking monster deep sea fish! Never thought I'd taste one of those! And don't know if I would have chosen to, had I known it was this ugly! Glad I did though..

Back at the bus around 10:30 PM. Many head upstairs to watch The Big Lebowsky. Take a leak against a palm tree before bus leaves. There's something I can cross of my list of things to do in life! Whiskey in the downstairs lounge. 10 People empty the first bottle in 1 1/2 hours. The second one finds fewer enthusiasts and actually survives the night, though barely. I crawl into bed around 1:30. That's about enough for now.

Tuesday 02-09-2010 Ninkasi Kao, Lyon (F)

Stefan has quite the challenge to get the bus near the venue. We're told the parking place in front of the club that was reserved for the bus has been crammed with cars since the shops opened this morning, so we have to back into a narrow street to get to the rear entrance instead. Accompanied by a frantic symphony of car horns, Stefan takes his time, uses every inch of available space and eventually pulls it off. Not a happy camper, needless to say!

Backstage smells of great food. We feast on sausages, home baked pizza slices, wonderful French bread etc. And more is in store, as a well tempered cook is slaving away at beautiful meals, you can just smell it! When dinner time is finally upon us, many mistake the richly filled omelet with salad, cheese, bread and beans on the side for the main course and bite off more than they can chew. This was only starters though! It's a shame, I'm stuffed already, take another piece of delicious omelet and call it quits. Best food of the tour so far!

An opening act is added to the bill for the French shows, starting today. They're called Osm'oz and are old acquaintances of the Gathering. They return to the stage after the tragic death of their female singer, with the guitarist taking over vocal duties. A brave move. The audience appreciates their efforts and they're greeted to a warm round of applause.

Though the guys in Osm'oz are all very polite and keep to themselves, you notice that the backstage area is more crowded and noisy than usual. Also, sharing a relatively small dressing room makes it difficult to find a quiet moment before the show. Marjan is slightly affected by this and feels she has trouble keeping her focus on stage today, not feeling 100% at ease. It doesn't hinder her performance though. Looking at video footage after the show, she is reassured. Ninkasi Kao is nicely filled tonight. We find ourselves having to work hard, but get the audience going quite well as the show progresses and have an awesome crowd response during Satellites, the best of the tour so far. TG have a good time, enjoying an audience that listens to every note they play in intense appreciation.

After the show, at the venue's bar, we get a taster of local beers from the brewery located next to the venue. Three different varieties, all surprisingly tasty! Especially the darkest of the three wets my appetite. Load out in snowy conditions. En route to Pratteln, Switzerland with the weather not particularly on our side and another tough border to cross.. off to bunkville at 2 AM.

Wednesday 02-10-2010 Z7, Pratteln (CH)

Snow, more snow. It's made for a long and arduous journey, fortunately with an unexpectedly smooth border crossing. This results in us arriving at the Z7 when the venue is still closed. We sit in the downstairs area of the bus waking up. Even when Sjoerd & Wouter have made their way into the venue, we remain in the bus, comfortable in our second collective home. Still, the prospect of a delicious Z7 breakfast gets the better of us and we eventually make our way into the large building and head upstairs towards the wonderful smell of food prepared with love. The Z7 hasn't changed a bit since I was last here in my God Dethroned days. Everything from the graffiti artwork on the walls of the venue and the scribbling 'artwork' gracing the walls of the dressing rooms to the perfect food (today's menu salmon cubes, schnitzel with bacon, potatoes etc.) has remained the same (with a few extra scribbles here and there.) Only the shower area has been upgraded in a major way. They are now heavenly. Shower for the gods, as Jerome dubs them.

We're assigned the Monkey Cage, the dressing room directly to the side of the stage. Looking out of the window, you have a bird's eye view of the band playing beneath you. We place a camera there and a second at the mixing desk in the middle of the venue to film the show. Wouter will be doing our sound tonight as a favor, and with the vast stage and impressive lights array, it should make for some nice footage.

The Z7 is a huge venue, so everyone is quite anxious to see how many people will show up. In the end, it's not all that bad, around 200 people make their way through the snow. For a venue with max. 1700 capacity that's far from sold out, but no one expected the Z7 to be filled to the brim, and the audience makes the place feel far from empty. The Swiss in ways are similar to the Dutch: a calm, collected, listening audience. We therefore had the feeling we had to work hard to get them going, but it turned out to be a very appreciative crowd, buying heaps of CDs after the show.

TG have a wonderful show, taking full advantage of a willing audience and all possibilities that lights, sound and stage have to offer here. They were forced to cancel a show in Z7 a while ago, so this was a making-up-for-it show and they were forgiven easily.

After the show, we all relax, have a shower, some more delicious sandwiches and finally enter the bus smiling, heading for Germany. Across the border in no time, the after party commences and I take over the DJ position till the early hours of morning (with a limited amount of alcohol.)

Thursday 02-11-2010 Colos Saal, Afschaffenburg (D)

Dead center Aschaffenburg. We stop in the middle of a busy shopping street, at the entrance to the venue. Another rush job, loading out all equipment before we're handed a fine by Aschaffenburg Polizei. Helped out by very friendly stage hands. Throughout the venue hang huge b/w photos of celebrities, taken by a real good photographer. Upstairs, spacious backstage areas, filled with comfortable couches. It's a slow day, most of us taking it easy after a long night's partying. The couches are a welcome retreat.

Marjan, Gema and I go shopping, but realize we need to split up, because both Autumn and Gathering representatives have errands to run, buying presents for the last day. It's very cold with a nasty breeze, but we endure to do some sightseeing, taking a look at the beautiful castle, overlooking the river Main. We warm up in a shopping mall near the venue, buy the first few gifts for the guys and girls in The Gathering & co, but then need to hurry back for TG sound check. Marjan sat down with Silje and Marjolein yesterday in backstage Z7 and did a duet of The Gathering's ‘Saturnine.’ The blend of Sile's and Marjan's voices sounded so natural that it was decided to bring it to the stage one of these days. So Aschaffenburg sound check is used to smoothen some edges. We'll have to buy the remaining presents some other day.

Sound check is a pleasure tonight. A very friendly and professional sound- and monitor man see to our every need and create a very transparent, be it rather loud sound on the relatively small stage. Sound in the venue has the same characteristics, should be convincing come show time!

I get called away after sound check for some autographs. It turns out some guys have driven a long way with a bunch of vinyl albums to sign, some of it old God Dethroned stuff. A nice surprise, I didn't think I'd ever get to sign those albums again!

Friends from the south of Germany visit us tonight. Usually, they travel to Holland or Belgium to see us play, now we get the chance to play in their back yard, return the favor. Glad we get to offer them a powerful show. We had a fun time afterward watching The Gathering, talking to fans that bought us some huge beers and got Marjan a small knitted pig for a tour mascot, cool looking creature! A truly great end to the German campaign. It was good to be back here!

Friday 02-12-2010 Biebob, Vosselaar (B)

On to Belgium! The legendary Biebob club, been there countless times and nothing much ever changes, which is a good thing here. Backstage same ol' same ol', always something to read on the walls, familiar names scribbling obscenities, sometimes a message from a befriended band or crew member. Still no lock on the shower door, so we take turns standing guard by the door. Always chicken on the menu when playing Biebob, though French fries have been replaced by baked potatoes tonight. Wonderful food, as always!

We're on full strength, and with a wonderful monitor sound and unhindered by technical mishaps, we play our best gig of the tour so far. The audience is kind of quiet at first, but appreciative and loosening up song by song. We had a great time hanging out with them afterwards. Our manager Peter came to the gig tonight and was impressed to see us in such good shape. I guess he's about the best judge of how we did, since he's seen us countless times. Good to hear we're moving forward!

During TG's opening songs, the audience takes a similar approach as they did with us, taking it slow, but gradually, reactions get better and near the end, it's one of the coolest crowds of the tour. They're rewarded with an extra encore song.

Only one Belgian show this tour, but a memorable one!

Saturday 02-13-2010 Le Splendid, Lille (F)

It’s funny how things revolve more and more about food and drinks the further a tour progresses. Your daily rhythm slows down and the basic focal points during the day are load-in, breakfast/lunch, sound check, dinner, show, snacks, load-out and drinks. It must be strange and perhaps tedious to read about food in almost every entry of this journal, but the truth is a meal can practically make or break a day here. The cook at Le Splendid deserves a medal for his efforts today, puts a smile on everybody's face. From the moment we get in till the time we leave, every time we move from stage to backstage, we pass through the kitchen, smell delicious food and crave for more. Tonight's menu consists of couscous, a choice of chicken or fish (fish for me, I'm a sucker for fish!) and some delicious deserts as cherry on the cake, so to speak. The person responsible gets a huge round of applause and takes a friendly bow.

Such a nice venue! An old movie theater, Old, but not worn down. Kept its characteristics and charm. A truly beautiful stage lined with curtains reaching all the way up to the high ceilings and accentuated by one of the most impressive light rigs of the tour. TG have been looking forward to this place (and the food) for days and I can see why!

Not the best neighborhood though. It all feels a bit dreary and the first thing we see exiting the bus is a guard with a vicious looking German Shepherd on a leash. I guess there must be a reason the venue feels the bus needs to be guarded like this. Let's not think about it too much. As it turns out, Rene is actually in need of some protection, ironically when he has a rather unpleasant encounter with the guard dog. When he makes his way from the venue to the bus to get some things, he rounds the trailer, startling the dog, which leaps forward and, to the horror of its master and Rene, breaks free of its chain and throws itself on Rene. Luckily, the dog has a muzzle strapped around its mouth and is unable to bite some chunks out of the guitarist, otherwise TG would certainly not have played Lille tonight!

And that would have been a shame, since it's the biggest crowd of the tour so far. And a very enthusiastic one at that! Hitting the stage after Osm’oz warmed up the crowd, our show tops the one in Biebob yesterday, in great part due to the very cool reactions of the audience. Also, the fact that Wouter and Linda help us out with great sound and a fabulous light show helps get our message across to the appreciative crowd.

France is definitely The Gathering country, judging from the numbers showing up and seeing how they react to the guys and girls. It’s like a victory march, the band being carried to great heights by their loyal fans. Marjan joins TG onstage today to sing ‘Saturnine’ with Silje and the band. A soulful version, both voices matching wonderfully and leading to a heartwarming applause from the crowd. Silje goes on to dedicate the next song to bus driver Stefan, who is visibly moved, today being his last chance to enjoy a show and party with us (tomorrow he’ll have to park his bus far away from the venue.)

Kirsten, Frank’s girlfriend, joins the company of nomads for the remaining two days of the tour, having her fair share of after party in the bus and proving great fun to be around. Damn, only one day to go after tonight…

Sunday 02-14-2010 Elysée Montmartre, Paris (F)

Valentine's Day in Paris. Personally, I couldn't care less about the concept of Valentine's Day, but being in Paris on a day like this, or any day for that matter, somehow has its appeal.

Speaking of appeal, the Elysée Montmartre has got plenty of that. A monumental building, on the Architectural Heritage List, houses a beautiful venue, breathing the grandeur of old Paris. Impressive ceilings, old ornaments, a fitting exclamation mark for a last tour day venue. Also, the expected turnout is by far the highest of the tour, with guesses ranging from 500 to 800 people. Very much looking forward to tonight! The one major disadvantage of this venue is the fact that we have to scramble out of the bus on a busy main street in Paris, haul all the equipment indoors, where an impressive flight of stairs offers us another daunting task. No elevators..

Last day of the tour. Traditionally time for presents and pranks. The search for presents hasn't been very productive the last few days, so we have a final go today. Jerome and I scout the crowded streets leading up to the Sacré Coeur, but since it's Sunday today, we only find some 600 souvenir shops that have opened their doors and we're not exactly looking for anything sporting the Eiffel Tower or any other Parisian icon for that matter. We walk many a flight of stairs to the Sacré Coeur, enjoy the fabulous view of Paris but return empty handed. I repeat the exercise with Marjan (my legs will be hurting tomorrow from climbing the countless stairs) to no avail, but Mats and Rutger hit jackpot. They come across a quaint souvenir shop that holds a wealth of strange and beautiful gifts. They find something for everyone and return to abundant praise.

Strange, the last day and both bands barely interacting, but instead retreating to their own dressing rooms and not letting anyone in. We get to work gift-wrapping the present and inflating some 100 balloons. Since TG members and crew keep knocking on the door of our dressing room, we have instated a password (something with banana) If it can't be produced, some of us keep dashing to the toilet to hide with presents and half-inflated balloons. Quite cozy, though a bit crammed for space in there. The inflated balloons fill our entire shower room, right up to the ceiling. During TG's show, we'll do some redecorating in their dressing room.

Osm'oz have the honor kicking off again tonight and they deliver a solid show. The guys give white roses to the ladies in TG and Autumn. It was a pleasure to have them around! We hit the stage to a wonderful Parisian crowd. There must be around 700 people present, including friends and family of Jan, Rutger and Marjan. The Elysée Montmartre is a beautiful stage to play and the crowd picks up on the energy we get from this place. Halfway through Blue Wine, we spot two large banners moving through the crowd towards us. TG have been busy while we were inflating balloons! The signs read "Ja jonguh!" and "Autumn, we hump you!" referring to several running gags during this tour. We're cracking up, making a mess of the song, but hey, it's only rock n roll! And boy, will we get back at them!

Packing up our equipment, I am careless for a split second and try to catch a falling flight case with my foot. A decision I'll be regretting for some time to come. I spend the next few minutes wriggling on the floor in agonizing pain and once I come to my senses, find out the case has hit three of the toes of my left foot, the big toe taking most of the hit, right on the nail bed. Nice and bloody and swollen, feels like my toes are on fire and about to fall off. I limp back to the dressing room and the rest of the evening is a bit of a blur for me.

I did make it out to the stage to see Marjan perform Saturnine again with TG. Tough luck that her microphone didn't function during the verse she sang solo, but for the rest of the song she used Marjolein's microphone and like yesterday evening, the guys and girls deliver a stellar version of the song. I stick around for one more song. Wonderful, to see TG perform at the top of their abilities and with big smiles all round in front of a very appreciative crowd. Limp back to wait for TG to return to their dressing room. Two confetti canons, one hundred balloons and a whole bunch of presents and champagne welcome them.

Unfortunately, it's a rather short after party, since the bus is right on time to load in and we can't leave Stefan waiting in the street, still very crowded late in the evening. We'll have to kick off the party on our way home.

Unexpectedly, the party is lengthened by an hour or so, as Stefan gets some nasty cuts to his face when he runs into the bus door, which was being opened just as he was walking by. We patch him up as well as we can and he drives to the nearest hospital for a check-up. He appears fine and is declared fit to drive, but will have a nice scar or two to remind him of this tour. IT was touch and go, but we're not going to spend another night in Paris. Back to Holland after all!

So, after weeks of travel the time has come to head for home. Home, where it's colder right now than most places we've been on this tour. Reluctant to go back and face more snow, and frankly, everyday life. The party will split up in Oss tomorrow morning, where we'll off-load the gear and go our separate ways. It'll take some re-adjusting, I'm sure, since this was by far the most enjoyable and harmonious tour I've ever been on and judging from my companions around me in the downstairs lounge, we all share that feeling. Sad it has to end, but at least it ended on a perfect high (apart from some sore feet, foreheads and egos) and there's already talk of a reunion soon. Usually, these plans seldom amount to much, but I'm fairly confident we'll be seeing a lot more of each other in the near future! It's been a blast, thanks a million to all involved, everyone we've met on the road and you for taking the time to read this!

Cheerz,

Jens & Autumn